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Senior Communications Executive Search
The right leader changes everything.
Mission + Cause Talent connects senior communications leaders: CCOs, EVPs, practice heads, and agency principals. We partner with the organizations that need them most, working at the intersection of industry knowledge, genuine human insight, and relationships earned over decades of meaningful work.
30+
Years inside the industry
Hundreds
Of senior placements made
One
Singular focus: communications leadership
"The leaders who most transform organizations are rarely the ones looking for a new role. Getting to them requires something beyond a search, it requires trust."
The M+C Talent philosophy
Our Approach
Relationships that earn the conversation.
We don't begin with a database. We begin with decades of genuine relationships, and the humility to know that the best candidates deserve to be approached with honesty about the opportunity, not just the title.
Access to exceptional, often-unreachable candidates comes not from exclusivity, but from trust. When we reach out to someone who isn't looking, they respond because we've shown up for them as colleagues, as honest advisors, as people who understand what matters to them at this point in their career.
Deep Industry Fluency
We understand the brief at a granular level: P&L dynamics, governance structures, agency culture, because we've worked in and alongside these organizations for decades. That context makes us better partners and better advocates for both sides.
Earned Access
The most impactful leaders aren't browsing job boards. Over thirty years, we've built relationships with the people who shape the industry, and when we call, they listen. Not because of who we are, but because of how we've always shown up.
Slates That Challenge Convention
We meet your brief, then we bring candidates who expand it. The most transformative hire is sometimes the one you didn't know to ask for. We bring you the expected and the unexpected, and let you decide what the future looks like.
Human Insight at the Center
Senior leaders today are seeking meaning as much as compensation. We take time to understand where each candidate is in their journey, their aspirations, their values, what would make this the right next chapter, and match from that place.
Our Focus
Senior communications leadership. Exclusively.
We do one thing, and we do it with discipline and care. We place senior communications executives across in-house brands, communications agencies, and nonprofit organizations.
Our focus is intentionally narrow because the work is inherently personal. These are careers, not transactions, and they deserve to be treated that way.
- Chief Communications Officer
- Head of Communications & Public Affairs
- Head of External Affairs & Corporate Reputation
- VP / SVP / EVP Communications
- Agency EVP, SVP & Practice Leader
- Head of Public Relations, In-House
- C-Suite Leaders at Communications Agencies
- Communications Leaders at Nonprofit Organizations
- AI Communications Leaders
Representative Searches
Organizations that trusted us with their most critical hire.
We've been honored to conduct searches across the full spectrum of the communications industry, from global health and industrial brands to leading agencies and independent firms.
Verily Health
an Alphabet Company
DS Smith
Weber Shandwick
Porter Novelli
Maslansky Partners
BODEN Agency
Taft Communications
KWI Communications
104 West
Special Olympics
Ajinomoto
Your Search Here
About M+C Talent
About M+C Talent
Mission + Cause Talent was built on a simple belief: that communications, done with purpose, by the right leaders, can change the way organizations engage with the world. We started this firm because we'd spent decades in the industry watching the difference a single exceptional hire could make.
We bring thirty-plus years of communications experience to every engagement, not as observers, but as practitioners who have hired for, led, and cared about these roles. We know what the work demands. We know what the best leaders look like. And we know what it means to find a role that genuinely fits.
"Our job isn't to fill a seat. It's to find the right person and make sure they understand why this opportunity might be the one worth saying yes to."
Brad MacAfee
Founder & CEO
Brad brings more than thirty years of communications leadership to every search, including his tenure as CEO of Porter Novelli, where he led one of the industry's most respected global agencies, and as CEO of KAOH Media, a strategic communications firm focused on community engagement and high-stakes public affairs. A lifelong champion of values-led hiring, Brad has been directly involved in hundreds of senior-level placements across agency and corporate environments. His approach is grounded in a simple belief: that the right match, one built on shared values and authentic fit, changes outcomes for organizations and careers alike. Brad is a board leader across multiple civic and industry institutions and holds deep roots in both the Atlanta and national communications communities.
Steve Mallison-Jones
Partner
Steve is one of the most trusted search professionals in the communications and public relations industry, with twenty years of experience placing senior talent across the United States, Europe, and beyond. Before dedicating his career to executive search, Steve served eight years in the Royal Air Force, an experience that shaped his discipline, his integrity, and his genuine commitment to the people he works with. Clients and candidates alike describe Steve as a confidant first and a recruiter second, someone who takes the long view on relationships and delivers placements that last. Steve is a master at the craft of locating, attracting and securing talent. He loves people and life with a passion.
"We help people translate who they are and what they believe into the career they were meant to have."
That's what we're really doing, for the candidates we place and the organizations we serve.
Let's Talk
Every great search starts with a conversation.
Whether you have an open role today or are simply thinking ahead, we welcome a candid, confidential conversation. No pitch. Just two people talking about what you need.
Reach us directly